Award name changed to Dunn-Roberts Fund
ENTERPRISE - Four natural resource majors from Wallowa County were awarded the Bruce Dunn Scholarship Fund this summer.
Luke Clinchy of Lostine and an Enterprise High School graduate, is a sophomore forestry student at the University of Idaho. This summer, he is working as a wildland firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service.
Codi Cunningham, also an Enterprise HIgh School graduate and sophomore at the University of Idaho, is studying agriculture-business and working on the family ranch.
Zoe Hermens of Wallowa and a Wallowa High School graduate was recruited to play basketball at Walla Walla Community College. She, too, is working on the family ranch this summer. She is entering her second year at Walla Walla this fall and will be taking agriculture and business classes in preparation to transfer to a four-year university.
Kellen Crenshaw of Wallowa graduated this spring from Joseph High School. He is working for the family business running heavy equipment, farming and ranching. He will be attending Blue Mountain Community College this year to prepare for a career in road construction and agriculture.
The Scholarship Fund was founded in August 2018 and originally named for Bruce Dunn, a local forester and long-time chair of the Wallowa County Natural Resource Advisory Committee.
Since 2020, 10 Wallowa County students pursuing natural resource careers have received awards from the Fund.
This summer, in light of Wallowa County Susan Roberts’ retirement announcement, the scholarship committee agreed to change the name to the “Dunn-Roberts Fund” to memorialize Roberts’ lifetime support of the county’s natural resource industries and businesses.
Born and raised in Wallowa County, Roberts grew up with three brothers, building fences, running equipment, growing crops and raising animals.
As a county commissioner, Roberts oversaw the Natural Resource Advisory Committee, accompanied the sheriff’s office on livestock loss investigations, testified in front of legislators and Fish and Wildlife commissioners, and pressed the U.S. Forest Service to focus their efforts on forest health and keeping livestock permits open on public land.
In 2019 Roberts helped found and co-chaired the Blue Mountains Inter-governmental Council, a group providing feedback to the U.S. Forest Service staff on its Blue Mountains Forest Plan Revision.
In 2024, the Wallowa County Stockgrowers recognized Roberts as the Honorary Stockgrower of the Year.
The Dunn-Roberts Fund is managed in cooperation between the scholarship committee and Wallowa Resources. A portion of the invested fund is distributed to scholarship winners each summer. Both graduating high school seniors and upper classmen status applicants can find the application on the Wallowa Resources’ website this fall with a deadline of March 30.
To donate, send checks to Wallowa Resources with Dunn-Roberts Fund in the memo line and mail to 401 Northeast First Street, Enterprise, OR 97828.